


5 x 1

by prideandfangirling



Category: The Mindy Project
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-31
Updated: 2014-12-31
Packaged: 2018-03-04 12:28:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,955
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3067838
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/prideandfangirling/pseuds/prideandfangirling
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Five times Danny was unintentionally romantic and one time Mindy was romantic on purpose.</p>
            </blockquote>





	5 x 1

**Author's Note:**

> While I tried to edit this as best as I could, this is unbeta'd and I apologize for any heinous errors. This is also not set up in any specific order and is not necessarily meant to be a linear timeline.

**I.**

           “Danny! Can you get my Clarisonic for me? I think I left it in my overnight bag.” Tipping her head back into the warm stream of water Mindy rinses her hair and grabs the bottle of lavender scented shampoo from the hanging shower caddy. She pours the product into her hand and begins to work the shampoo through her hair, focusing on her scalp. Danny was finishing his breakfast when Mindy jumped into the shower and he should have been able to hear her ask for her face brush. Why hadn’t he brought it to her by now? Mindy continues to lather her hair with one hand while pulling the shower curtain back with the other.

           “Danny!” she yells.

           Danny pauses in the middle of pulling his grey undershirt off. “What’s the matter with you, Min? I’m right here!” He finishes taking off his shirt and points to the sink. “There’s your clear-a-sonic brush thing. You left it on the kitchen table by the way, not in your bag.” Danny finishes undressing and joins Mindy in the shower, removing her hand from the curtain to close it. “I don’t get why you have to use the guest bathroom. I told you that you could use mine.”

           “And I told you, Danny. The guest bathroom’s shower is bigger than yours and I got tired of you complaining about all my beauty products.” Mindy pushes Danny to the side and begins to wash the shampoo suds from her hair. “What are you doing in here anyway? And stop using my shampoo!”

           “I’m conserving water!” Danny laughs as he hands Mindy the bottle of shampoo. “I need to shower before work and I want to actually use some of my hard earned hot water before it’s all gone from you washing your hair four times like some little nut job.”

           Mindy flicks shampoo suds at Danny’s shoulder before returning to her hair. “You’re supposed to shampoo and repeat and then you’re supposed to use conditioner and then finally you deep condition. I wash my hair like all normal people, thank you very much.” Mindy finishes rinsing her hair and crosses her arms, pouting at Danny. “You’re in my space.”

           “Are you seriously tapping your foot at me in the shower?” Danny smiles crookedly at Mindy. “What if I just wanted to spend some time with my girlfriend? You know, a little you wash my back and I’ll wash yours?” Danny’s smile widens as he reaches for Mindy’s arm to pull her towards him.

           “No, no, no. You have to be at the hospital in half an hour to see Mrs. Carter and decide if she’s being induced this week. We do not have the time.” Mindy stands on her toes and gives Danny a quick kiss on the lips before grabbing her conditioner. “But I do know that my last appointment is at 3:00 and yours is at 3:15 so we should both be getting off early tonight, if you know what I mean.” Mindy gives Danny an exaggerated wink before uncapping the bottle.

           Washing off the last bit of soap bubbles from his body, Danny laughs and leans over to kiss Mindy on the nose. “Deal. I’ll see you at work then?” He barely sees Mindy’s nod before she hip checks him out of the stream of water. Danny shakes his head and steps out of the shower, a smile still on his face.

           Mindy slathers her dark hair with a deep conditioning treatment before clipping it up into a high bun. She’s about to grab for her face wash when she realizes that she still doesn’t have her Clarisonic face brush. Mindy sighs deeply before pulling back the shower curtain and stepping out, feeling the rush of cool air hit her. “Fuck,” she mutters as she glances around the guest bathroom, hopping from foot to foot and searching for the brush. Mindy’s eyes finally land on the bright pink brush on the sink before she realizes there’s something scrawled on the fogged up mirror.  After reading the three words, Mindy forgets how cold she is and how much water she’s dripping all over the floor, a smile on her face that rivals Danny’s from earlier.  

_I love you._

* * *

 

**II.**

           Friday was turning out to be one of the longest and most exhausting days the practice had ever had. It all started when Morgan and Tamra were caught in the hot pipe room during an unscheduled morning break. Beverly was then discovered taking a nap in the hot pipe room at the same time Morgan and Tamra were in there making out and poor Jeremy was the one who stumbled upon the slobbering, snoring mess. Jeremy put Mindy in charge of the practice while he took the morning off to talk with the offending trio in HR about what was expected of them while they were at work. Manhattan must have been incredibly busy seven to eight months ago because there were more pregnant women in for appointments today than usual; it was only a little after 12pm and Mindy and Peter had already seen nearly twice the amount of patients they saw in a day.

           Once the morning rush ended, Mindy is finally able to go into her office and sit at her desk for longer than thirty seconds. She kicks off her four inch heels and begins to rummage around her desk drawers for anything to give her a sugar rush. Peter had gone out to pick up tacos as a late lunch but Mindy needed something a little more immediate. When her search turns out to be fruitless she lets out a loud huff while opening her laptop. After this morning the only thing Mindy wants is a little sweetness and considering Danny is taking his mother to the airport and her post-Halloween candy is missing from her desk, Mindy is seriously out of luck. She has just opened up an e-mail from Gwen with a YouTube link to Riley’s performance in her school’s play when she hears a knock on the office door.

           “Hey, babe. I thought you could use a pick me up.”

           Glancing up Mindy sees Danny standing in the doorway with a huge frozen coffee in his hand. Danny smiles and walks towards her desk, placing the frosty drink in front of her and taking a seat in an empty chair. “I just finished dropping Ma off. I’m glad we followed TSA guidelines and left three hours early because her flight to Miami was moved up an hour.“  Danny rubs his eyes before jerking his head towards the main office of the practice. “Where is everybody?”

           “You don’t want to know,” Mindy answers while tearing off the paper wrapper of the straw and inserting it into the pillowy cloud of whipped cream. “Is Richie picking your mom up?” She scoops off some of the excess whipped cream that’s come out the top of the lid and sucks on her finger, enjoying the sugar she’s missed all morning. Or at least, one of the sugars she’s been missing.

           “Yeah. I already called him to let him know the flight was changed and he said it wasn’t a problem. He says hi by the way. Both him and Ramon say you need to hurry up and visit them. Something about a drag race being filmed there?”

           Mindy gasps. “You mean the new season of RuPaul’s Drag Race is being filmed in Miami?! Ugh, I hate your brother! And by hate I mean I love him but I really hate him for being in Miami without me right now. If gay guys love me I can only imagine how much drag queens would worship me. Oh my God, Danny when can we go visit?” Mindy is already in the process of opening her web browser to look up ticket prices when she hears Danny laughing. “What?”

           Danny shakes his head as he pushes the chair back and stands up. “Nothing. We can go whenever you want. But before we figure that out, how about you tell me what you would like for me to cook for dinner tonight? Since I’m off today I figured I could do something special for you, unless you need me to come in to work.”

           “No, we have it covered, babe.” Mindy sees how Danny is tired by the dark circles under his eyes and knows he had to get up early to drive Annette to the airport. Her and Peter handled the morning just fine and could manage the afternoon just on their own too. “And surprise me with dinner. As long as there’s steak. And fries! I love you.”

           “Love you, too. Enjoy your coffee,” Danny walks around the desk and gives Mindy a goodbye kiss before heading out the office. 

           Mindy finally takes a sip of her coffee and breaks into a smile, staring at her cup in disbelief. Danny had gotten her a white chocolate mocha frap with three pumps toffee nut, one pump hazelnut, chocolate and caramel drizzle underneath extra whipped cream, made with half and half instead of regular milk. He refused to get coffee with her because he said he could order and drink a regular cup of coffee by the time she finished ordering her ridiculous diabetes in an overpriced recycled cup. Mindy could not believe that after hearing her order her favorite coffee drink a maximum of two times that Danny had gotten it exactly right. She takes a longer drink of her coffee, wondering how she ever got so lucky with a man like Danny.

* * *

 

**III.**

           “I hope you’re happy with yourself, Lahiri. This is a ridiculous checkout line and for what? Cheesecake? I could be at home relaxing with a nice bottle of Doctor Dan’s but instead I’m in this never ending line of red carts and baskets.” Danny sticks his hands in his coat pockets and peers around Mindy towards the registers. He raises an eyebrow at his girlfriend. “What? No smart comeback?”

            “Nope, not this time. First of all the line isn’t that bad because it’s during dinner time and everyone comes to Trader Joe’s way before then. Second of all, nothing can be bad now that me and my one true love have finally found each other.” Mindy clutches the Cookie Butter Cheesecake to her chest tightly.  The moment she read online that the grocery store Trader Joe’s had upped their Cookie Butter game and combined it with one of her favorite desserts, she grabbed her and Danny’s coats and dragged her boyfriend out of the apartment and straight to the store.

           The line really wasn’t as bad as Danny made it out to be but it definitely wasn’t going to be a quick trip in and out of the store. Mindy didn’t mind waiting, especially since she was in simple ballet flats instead of her usual heels. Plus she was getting the chance to people watch, something she loved to do. She had just finished lusting over a passing girl’s handbag when she notices someone staring at her and Danny. Mindy smiles politely at the stranger, who returns the smile and gives a small wave before pointing towards Danny.

           “Oh, damn. I thought it was me he was checking out but the Idris Elba lookalike two places up is actually hitting on you, babe. At least he has good taste.” Mindy murmurs.

           Danny’s eyes widen as he glances up before he chuckles and waves back. “He’s not hitting on me, Min. That’s my old friend Gabe. We used to be in the same uh, dance group. You know, back when I was in med school.” His cheeks redden at the mention of his job history.

           “Whoa. He’s hot. I wish I had seen you dance together. It would have been like ‘Magic Mike’ but with you as a shorter and angrier Channing Tatum.”

           Gabe graciously lets the person behind him get in front that way he can talk with Danny without being rude. The two men shake hands and greet each other in such a comfortable manner that Mindy wonders if it’s been that long since they’ve seen each other or if they still manage to keep in touch.  Gabe turns towards Mindy, giving her an even bigger smile than the first one she witnessed and for a moment she forgets how to speak until Danny gently nudges her.

“Sorry! I’m Mindy, Danny’s girlfriend.” Mindy offers her hand but is suddenly enveloped in a huge bear hug. “My cheesecake!” she manages to squeak out.

           “Oh no, we can’t have a ruined cheesecake now. There we go. Nothing damaged right?” Gabe makes sure that both Mindy and her cheesecake are in perfect condition before speaking to Danny. “It’s been too long, man. Facebook doesn’t count, you know. How’ve you been?”

           Danny’s face lights up at question. “I’ve been good, Gabe.” He puts his arm around Mindy and pulls her close. “I’ve been real good actually. I mean, I’m stuck in this line but I wouldn’t choose anyone else to be stuck in this line with. How’s Mona doing? She should be due sometime soon, right?”

            “She’s due next month with our second girl,” Gabe chuckles, lifting up the red basket.  “She made me come here after dinner because she had a craving for some damn Cookie Butter and dark chocolate peanut butter cups. It couldn’t be the dark chocolate Cookie Butter bar either,” Gabe rolls his eyes good naturedly. “I can’t believe we had to go to a different OB/GYN this go around either. Apparently the best doctor in New York was too busy even for his friend.”

           “The best doctor actually just got back from a fellowship in California. She went to Stanford! Mindy couldn’t take anymore new patients and some of her current patients had to go to some of the other doctor’s in the practice. Let me tell you, all they could talk about was how they missed talking gossip with Dr. Lahiri and if I had seen the latest episodes of ‘Real Housewives,’” Danny answers proudly.

           “Hold on, wait. Is this the same Daniel Castellano who called himself the best resident in his program and the future best OB/GYN? The same guy who said when my wife and I decided to have kids that if we didn’t go to him that naming my first born Daniel wouldn’t make up for the irreversible back stabbing I would have committed?” Gabe moves forward in the line and Danny and Mindy follow suit. “You’ve changed, man.”

           “Oh, whatever. I just realized what was really important. Besides, Mindy has shown me a lot about being a doctor. It’s not just about being good at the medical part of it. It’s a lot more than that really.”

           “Like knowing what’s going on with reality television shows?”

           Danny points to Mindy. “This one? This one right here can tell you everything you need to know about any show and any celebrity there is. You try and have a conversation with an 8 month pregnant woman who has been put on bed rest and there’s no way that Kim Kardashian’s third divorce doesn’t come up. How can you compete with someone with such important knowledge?” Danny says without a hint of sarcasm. The trio shuffles up as the line moves again. “Mindy can get anyone to relax and trust her after just a few minutes of talking to them. She genuinely cares about people and it shows in everything she does. Even Ma loves her. MA!”

           Mindy turns her head towards Danny in disbelief. “Seriously?” Is the same Annette who was Danny’s mother that they were discussing?

           “She said she gave you a hard time because she liked you so much.”

           “Well, that explains why she was always so polite with Christina,” Gabe laughs as he turns towards Mindy. “You must be something special to be able to win over Annette. I only managed when I came over to help Danny clean the gutters on her house one summer and took my shirt off.”

           “Oh, come on! That’s my mother, Gabriel! I don’t need to hear all of that now!” Danny says, scandalized over imagining his mother lusting after his friend’s abdominal muscles.

           Gabe lets out a deep laugh at the use of his full name. “Looks like I’m next. Danny, it was great seeing you again. Let’s get lunch sometime. Or you two can come over and have dinner with me and the wife. Mindy, it was a pleasure to meet you.” He hugs her one more time, taking care to not hit the cheesecake, and whispers into her ear, “I’ve never seen a man more happy or more in love. He’s lucky to have such a wonderful woman like you,” before heading to an open register.

           On the walk back home Mindy reflects on the conversation from the store. The only people Mindy had ever heard Danny brag over were his own family members. He was not the kind of man to be false and talk a person up unless they truly deserved it. Mindy remembers the letter of recommendation for her fellowship that Danny wrote and squeezes his hand. “The line wasn’t that bad, right, babe?”

           Danny smiles over at Mindy and squeezes her hand back. “It wasn’t that bad at all. Just like you said.”

* * *

 

**IV.**

_“Wait a minute...nice boys don’t kiss like that.”_

_“Oh, yes, they fucking do.”_

           “That didn’t sound anything like a British accent, Min. And do you have to quote the entire movie every time we watch it?” Danny gets up from the couch and pushes the eject button on the DVD player. “I don’t even know how this copy got into my apartment considering you haven’t been to your own apartment since before you got sick.”

           “I wasn’t trying to have a British accent, Danny. I just can’t breathe through my nose right now.” Mindy reaches for the box of tissues on the coffee table and waves the thin sheet around. “Besides, I borrowed Peter’s copy.” Mindy blows her nose and throws the used tissue into the small waste basket Danny has placed next to the couch. “You would be surprised at how many romantic comedies he has. Ugh, Danny. I don’t want to be sick anymore. I’m a healthy teenager in my prime! This doesn’t make sense.”

           Danny sits back on the couch and begins to rub Mindy’s feet. “I wasn’t the one who forgot to take my allergy medicine and then go to the farmer’s market in the middle of spring to buy flowers. By the way, did you take your medicine?”

           “You didn’t hear my dainty little snores when Daniel interrupts Bridget’s birthday dinner? You bet I took my medicine.“ Mindy manages to wrestle one of her feet away from Danny and nudges him gently in the ribs. “I think I’ll be ready for bed soon. Are you coming too or are you going to stay out here you weirdo?”

           “I would join you but last time I tried watching the latest Ken Burns documentary in the bedroom you kept punching me. While you were asleep,” Danny finishes with a pointed look at Mindy.

           “Okay, okay. I get it. I’m going to go change into my pajamas and then go to sleep. Can you grab me some more tissues while I do that? Pleaseee,” Mindy begs. She stands up and pulls at the hem of her shirt while pouting at Danny, attempting her best puppy dog expression.

           “Why do you have to go and change? You’re already wearing my shirt and sweatpants. Go to bed.”

           Mindy scoffs at her boyfriend. “I can’t go to sleep in your clothes. I need my pajamas because they keep my overall body temperature at least ten degrees cooler than the temperature in the room. That way I can be in the same bed as you but not sweat my perm out,” Mindy finishes while patting her hair.

           Cocking his head at Mindy, Danny pauses for a few seconds before speaking again. “But you don’t have a perm? Your hair is pretty straight.”

           “Danny! A perm is what women of color get to-“

           “Uh uh.”

           “You sound just like Tamra! Okay, fine. I don’t have a perm but you still get really sweaty and then I get sweaty and ugh, Danny. It’s gross, okay?”

           “Fine, whatever. Go change and I’ll find some more of your tissues. I’m going to finish watching my documentary and then I’ll join you.” Danny grabs Mindy’s trash can full of tissues to head into the kitchen to empty it.

           Mindy grabs her temperature controlled pajamas from the set of drawers Danny had given her to use. She turns to walk towards the bathroom but pauses at the two stuffed animals on the nightstand. “Hey, Danny?” she calls out.

           “Yeah?” Danny appears at the bedroom’s doorway, crossing his arms and leaning on the frame.

           “What is Brown Bear doing here?” Mindy asks, pushing her glasses up where they had slid down her nose.

           “I picked him up on my way back from work today. I figured you would feel better with him here. I mean, I like having Mr. Neck with me whenever I’m sick,” Danny explains.

           “Which brings me to my next question: why is Brown Bear sitting next to Mr. Neck?”

           Danny shrugs. “I didn’t want him to be lonely before you got the chance to snuggle with him and I thought they could keep each other company in the meantime.” He walks to Mindy’s side of the bed and places the waste basket on the floor. “I’ll bring your tissues in just a second, okay?” As he walks out, he places a quick kiss on Mindy’s cheek. “Sleep well, babe.”

           Shaking her head out of the part romantic daze and part allergy medicine haze she’s in, Mindy heads to the bathroom and changes out of Danny’s clothes and into her pajamas. When she opens the door Mindy sees that the lights in the bedroom have all been turned off except for the lamp on the nightstand, illuminating a single box of tissues. She quickly climbs into bed, places her glasses on the stand, and shuts the light off. Snuggling into the comforter she realizes that Danny has placed both Brown Bear and Mr. Neck on his side of the bed, to keep her company until he came to bed.

* * *

 

**V.**

            “I don’t want Thai food for dinner. I think they have a hidden agenda out against me. I mean, first they give me chicken pad Thai instead of shrimp and they also forgot my spring rolls. But them ruining my phone? That I can’t allow. No more Thai food in this house, Danny. What about Italian?” Mindy casually looks up just in time to see Danny choke on his glass of whiskey at the suggestion. “Or maybe not.”

           “Are you crazy?” Danny exclaims loudly while wiping his chin free of whiskey. “Throw out those menus! Over my dead body will Italian ever be _ordered_ ,” he continues disgustedly. “Besides, the Thai restaurant did not force you to drop your phone into the extra container of peanut sauce because someone was too distracted at whoever Taylor Swift is now cavorting around with.”

           “Taylor Swift was photographed with that guy from ‘Harry Potter!’ Ex-squeeze me for being excited over their possible future children! Besides, who puts that much peanut sauce in a container? They usually skimp out when I ask for extra,” Mindy says as she continues to shuffle through the menus in her kitchen drawer.

           Danny sighs and gets up from the couch before walking towards the kitchen island to Mindy. “Maybe they finally got tired of you calling in to complain that your extra peanut sauce wasn’t included when it clearly was so they decided to make it obvious.”

           “Whatever. Now I have to use my tablet to keep up on my celebrity gossip and the wifi in my apartment sucks. I miss my phone, Danny! I don’t even remember the last time I was without it! Ooh. What about Mediterranean?” Mindy asks.

           “You messed up your phone Friday night and it’s now Sunday night. It’s only been two days and the phone company said your new phone would be delivered to the office tomorrow morning. You’re fine,” Danny explains patiently. “What about tacos? Didn’t Peter mention some taqueria that specialized in fish tacos?”

           Mindy tilts her head and squints at Danny. “Was he talking about a real restaurant or was he telling a dirty joke?”

           “Restaurant. The joke involved Pubes and Peter on spring break.”

           “Oh, right, right, right,” Mindy nods and reaches over the kitchen island for her tablet. “Let me Google the menu then.”

           After arguing on whether the carne asada was better than the carnitas (answer: both were equally delicious) and if they should go with guacamole or salsa (answer: both, with a side of queso) Mindy and Danny finally agreed on what to order for dinner. There was only one problem.

           “They don’t have an online ordering service, Danny! Now we’re going to starve to death!”

           Danny grabs the television remote and turns the volume up on the ‘Law and Order: SVU’ rerun that’s playing. “We’re not going to starve, drama queen. Just call and place the order.”

           “With what phone?”  

           Reaching into his front jeans pocket Danny pulls out his cell phone and hands it to Mindy. “With mine. I get free nights and weekends anyway.  Hey, do you think you could see if they’ll deliver some beer with the tacos? My last batch of Dr. Dan’s Funky Ale didn’t work out too well. Who knew pilsners could be so fussy?”

“Yeah, I’ll ask. I’m going to go into the bedroom since it’s quieter in there. Be right back.” Mindy scoops up her tablet and Danny’s phone and walks into her room, gently shutting her doors shut. She pulls up the menu on her tablet and presses the home button on Danny’s phone and pauses before swiping her finger across the screen to unlock it.

           Danny’s wallpaper is a selfie Mindy made him take with her the day after their first Christmas as a proper couple. Her hair is up in a messy bun and she’s wearing a gray penguin sweater while peeking over Danny’s shoulder. Danny is wearing his Columbia sweatshirt and awkwardly holding the phone as he listens to Mindy mutter directions on how to angle the phone for the best picture through clenched teeth as she smiles for the camera. Afterwards Mindy had asked Danny to send the picture to her phone but he complained that she would just put it on Instagram and refused to.

           The screen goes dark and Mindy presses the home button again. She sees that Danny really has made his wallpaper a picture of the two of them and it wasn’t a figment of her imagination. This is the same Daniel Castellano who refused to change the default wallpaper on his phone when Mindy offered to set it to a picture of Sophia Loren after he upgraded phones last year. He claimed that if the phone really wanted to have a picture of Sophia Loren as its wallpaper then it would have come preinstalled because a phone was a device to send and receive calls and texts, not for anything else. Mindy was still trying to introduce him to the world of Kim Kardashian: Hollywood and Snapchat. She even thought she had made progress when Danny downloaded the Uber app until Mindy caught him hailing a taxi like an old school New Yorker.

           But maybe he wasn’t such a lost technological cause. Maybe Danny just needed a push in the right direction. Perhaps he needed a reason to change his wallpaper and that reason wasn’t a young Italian starlet but rather a curvy Hindu Bostonian who tried to show him the ways of the modern technology. Either way, Mindy couldn’t help but smile one last time as she finally unlocked the phone and started dialing the taqueria.

* * *

 

**_I._ **

            “Annette, this smells absolutely amazing. I can’t thank you enough for helping me make this meal for Danny.” Mindy stirs the simmering pot of tomato sauce as Danny’s mother adds in a pinch of herbs. “Is that oregano?”

            “Shush,” Annette chastises the younger woman. “You’re not getting the secret family recipe for meatballs and tomato sauce out of me, Mindy. The only reason I’m helping you is because you promised to take me and Dot shopping next weekend at one of those sample sale things. Well, that and because I love my boy so much and nothing makes me happier than cooking his favorite meal for him.”

            Mindy had wanted to surprise Danny with dinner but quickly discovered that while she could graduate as one of the top students from her class at medical school, she could not follow a recipe without having disastrous results. The first time she attempted to make meatballs she couldn’t get them to stick together. The second time she burned the outsides to a black crisp while the insides remained pink and raw. As for the third time, well, she finally decided that third time would most certainly be the charm and called Ms. Castellano to come over and help. It took bribing Annette and hauling the bags of groceries up to Danny’s apartment but after inhaling the delicious smell of Italian food Mindy was starting to think it would all work out for the best.

            Placing the spoon down on the edge of the pan, Mindy brushes her hands over the front of her black and white polka dotted apron. “Danny should be home soon. Do you need me to call a cab for you?” Mindy notices Annette’s eyebrow arch and quietly sighs. “I mean, would you like me to call the car service for you, Annette?”  Between the tolls and the driver fee, getting Annette back to Staten Island would cost an arm and a leg but Mindy was hoping it would all be worth it to see the look on Danny’s face once everything was in its place.

            Annette nods as she turns the oven off and walks towards the kitchen table. “Now remember: don’t open the oven until you’re ready to put the meatballs into the sauce and don’t put the meatballs into the sauce until you’re ready to serve dinner. The parmesan is in the fridge and the garlic bread just needs to be warmed under the broiler for a few minutes. Once the meatballs are out of the oven, I mean. Don’t you dare crowd them together because you’re too impatient to wait,” Annette warns Mindy.  

            Now it’s Mindy’s turn to nod her head as she finishes setting up the car pickup on her phone for Annette. “The driver will be here in a few minutes. Thank you, thank you, thank you again. I don’t know how I’ll ever repay you for this. Just let me buy the clothes at the sale next weekend, okay?”

            “Hey! That only happened the one time with you! And besides,” Annette continues as she grabs her purse and heads to the door. “You can never repay me. I am the only one who knows how to make my baby boy’s spaghetti and meatballs just the way he likes it. But you know what? I don’t think any of Danny’s girls ever asked for help in making him his favorite meal. There might be hope for you yet, Mindy.” Annette grabs Mindy’s face and kisses the left side, followed by another kiss on the right side.

            Mindy stands still in shock and disbelief, her eyes wide as she watches Annette open the apartment door and leave. The click of the door snaps her out of the daze and she hurries to the cabinet to pull out the navy blue plates to set on the table. She’s just reached the silverware drawer when Mindy hears the lock turn and the door opens, Danny’s voice traveling through the kitchen.

            “I could have sworn I saw a woman who looks just like Ma get into a car downstairs. I can’t wait to tell her she has a doppelganger in the city. I even think I smell Ma’s food-” Danny pauses mid-removal of his jacket when he turns towards Mindy and sees the food on the stove. “Mindy, what’s all this?”

            “Surprise, babe!” Mindy says, waving her hands around in a small flourish at the nearly set kitchen table. “I wanted to cook you dinner but I’m hopeless so your mom came over to help me. Dinner is almost ready if you want to have a seat. I just have to do a few final touches and voila!”

            Danny takes a seat and watches Mindy open the oven door to pull out a baking sheet full of meatballs and carefully dropping them one by one into the tomato sauce on the stove. His lower jaw drops open when he sees her place a loaf of French bread split in half and slathered in garlic and butter into the oven and turn the broiler on as if it was something she did every day. “What’s going on?”

            “I told you, I wanted to cook you dinner. I just wanted to do something nice, Danny.  Are you going deaf in your old age?” Mindy cocks her head to the side as she unties her apron. “If you’re going deaf then we should definitely get married, that way I can get on your life insurance since you’ll only have a few years left anyway,” she smiles.

            “Very funny.”

            Mindy hangs her apron over the back of a chair and pulls the bread out of the oven, placing it on top of the kitchen island. She grabs Danny’s plate and turns back to the stove, scooping out some spaghetti noodles from a large pot before covering it with the aromatic tomato sauce and meatballs. Her heels click along the floor as she grabs a piece of garlic bread and sets the plate in front of Danny.

           “Oh! I forgot the cheese!”

           “There’s more?” Danny asks, amazed at the effort that Mindy has put in for dinner.

           “Sort of. Just one more thing really,” Mindy says with a smile as she closes the refrigerator door and places the small bowl of grated parmesan on the table. She walks to the living room and grabs the television remote, pressing the power button. The screen lights up and men in white and navy pinstriped baseball uniforms appear. “It’s the World Series Finale, right?”

           Danny’s infamous crooked smile appears on his face. “It’s the last game of the World Series.”

           “Right. Like I said, it’s the series finale,” Mindy replies as she grabs a plate of food for herself before sitting at the seat next to Danny.

           “It’s not a series finale like on ‘Scandal’ or any of your other shows. You know what? Don’t worry about it.” Danny twirls pasta around on his fork and takes a bite. “This is amazing. Thank you for this, Min.”

           Mindy smiles brightly as she clasps her hands together in excitement. “Really? I’ve been trying to plan this for ages but I could never get it right until today!”

           “Well, it’s perfect. I’ve got my Ma’s food, I’ve got my team, and I’ve got my girl who put this all together for me. I couldn’t ask for anything more.”

           “You sure you don’t want to do the dishes?” Mindy teases. She wasn’t going to let Danny wash the dishes; after all, this was a special night for him.

           Besides, that’s why the dishwasher was invented.

**Author's Note:**

> I've had the most ridiculous case of writer's block since "Mindy Lahiri's Diary" but I finally found some inspiration and followed up on an idea I had months ago. Shout out to amazing and ever so lovely Calliope_Soars who is probably the biggest reason I got myself back on this writing horse; I hope you like the little detail I added especially just for you! I hope everyone has a wonderful New Year's and may 2015 be filled with lovely fics and happy ships.


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